In article 1145306781.039121.155760
@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com, says...


I've been going after some japanese knotweed for about 2 years, with
little success. Just now I'm looking at whole crop of little red
leaves popping up from the ground. I've read that hitting them with
extra strength Roundup while they are flowering can be effective. Are
these little leaves "flowers", or do I wait until they are fully grown,
with actual flowers on them?

Thanks.
JP

Oh, I've just got to de-lurk on this one, having just managed to
get rid of some of this noisome stuff.

Never, ever, EVER let it grow. I used "Brush-B-Gone", the
refill kind that you dilute yourself. Dilute it to half-
strength, wear gloves, and spray the new shoots as soon as they
show leaves. Do this on a still day, and be very careful not to
get it on anything else, including you. It took five years of
this treatment before my yard was Japanese knotweed-free, but
last year I didn't get any shoots at all.

And let me say, I don't use poisons or other chemicals in my
garden at all, as a rule, but this was war! I'd tried just
pulling up the shoots and as much of the roots as I could, on
the theory that it would eventually wear itself out, but I was
wearing out, and it wasn't even winded.

--
Siobhan - Gardening in coastal Maine, Zone 5

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the
precipitate.